In the Forests of the Night
by wombat
Summary: An offshoot from the Edodale RK/Buffy fusion: Kaoru gets into hot water with a little help from Enishi.
1. Default Chapter

This piece is basically a spinoff from my Edodale premise, which is why Rurouni  
Kenshin characters are (kind of) talking and acting as if they were modern-day characters  
from Buffy. If you really need to know more about the setup, hey, "Edodale" is archived  
here too. This may possibly end up being an optional chapter for that story, but possibly  
not.

In the Forests of the Night  
By wombat

"You're a right mess, aren't you?" The man studied Kaoru as she lay in a heap where he'd  
set her down. When she made a feeble attempt at sitting up, her hair left a broad  
brushstroke of blood-streaked grime on the floor beneath her cheek. She already felt  
pretty awful, but felt even worse about making such a mess on the polished tiles of his  
entrance hallway. "Jineh never was much of a sport. Bloke never seems to understand  
that hostages are only useful when you keep them alive. You all right, then?"

"I- I think so," Kaoru said uncertainly, but when she tried to stand, her knees went all  
wobbly and she fell down again. "Maybe I twisted an ankle, but it'll be okay."

"Look, why don't you wash up while I brew a cuppa to get you warm. Make you feel a bit  
better, hey?"

She looked down at herself: jeans caked with half-frozen mud, torn-sleeved jacket soaked  
with zombie slush, hair trailing raggedly out of her ponytail and sodden with both. "Um.  
If you have some clothes I could borrow, that would be great. Can I call my friends first  
to tell them I'm okay?"

"Let them wait a bit. Look at you, you're shivering so hard that mud is flaking off you in  
pieces. Get on with you into the tub, second door around the corner. Plenty of soap and  
towels in there, and I'll see what else I can find."

Plenty of hot water too, and a good thing. She wasn't used to washing in just a tub instead  
of a shower, and she had to drain and refill it several times before the water stayed clean.  
The cake of soap had a nice, solid feel against her skin, and a pleasant scent of  
sandalwood and bergamot. Once she finally felt clean, she settled down into the water,  
submerging her head nearly up to the level of her nose and watching the ripples from her  
breath. With her ears underwater, she didn't hear his knock at the door, but she was both  
too exhausted and too drowsy to be terribly startled when he poked his head in. He  
must've had a clear view of her body through the water, but he didn't show much interest  
beyond a cursory glance. He left a bundle of clothing on the counter beside the sink and  
disappeared again.

She supposed that was a hint. She wasn't sure how long she'd been soaking, but her  
fingers and toes had the slightly wrinkled, bright pink look of umeboshi. Still a little  
dizzy, she braced herself slowly up on the edge of the tub and climbed over it onto the  
bathmat. His towels were nice too: thick and velvety, in a deep shade of teal. When she'd  
dried herself enough that her hair was only damp, not dripping, she shook out the  
clothing and boggled slightly.

It was a formal kimono set. It was a pretty nice kimono, too- it felt like real silk, in a  
pale shade of rose like winter dawn. She didn't know how to put on a kimono by herself,  
and she wasn't even sure when was the last time her mother had dressed her up in one for  
a festival. Well, he'd taken her own clothing, probably to go stress out his washing  
machine, so she'd just have to make do for now.

She didn't feel like bothering with the three different cotton undergarments, or even all of  
the belty things, so she just pulled on the tabi socks, wrapped the kimono around her, and  
tied it closed with the crimson gauze undersash. The kimono trailed beyond her feet, but  
she held the hem up out of her way as she walked out, the rest of the bundle tucked under  
her arm.

He was pouring out some tea at the low table in the corner, but when he looked up at her,  
he actually laughed. "Crikey, they don't teach girls how to wear things proper any more,  
do they?" He set the teapot down and got to his feet to take the bundle from her and  
spread it out on a sideboard.

"That's all wrong, you know. Might as well look decent while you're at it. Don't you  
worry, I helped my sister for years with the same set you're wearing. Or at least wearing  
bits of." He set aside the underkimono as well as the camisole and half-slip that should've  
wrapped around her waist beneath it. "Don't even want to bother with the susoyoke to  
keep the skirt from flapping open? Oh well. Not like she'll be worrying about water spots  
on the silk where she is now."

"Was she-" Kaoru faltered. "Did something happen to her?"

His face was carefully expressionless. "She was taken away from me untimely, let's say."

"I'm sorry."

"'Tisn't your fault, pet. Turn your back and hike up your hem so I can tie your waist up."  
Once she had a good grip on the front panels of the kimono, he whipped the crimson  
undersash back off, then tied a braided cord around her waist. "Drop the overlap to fall  
over the cord, now, and hold onto these bits of padding so I can fasten the waistband over  
them. Should ought go under the kimono, but too late for that. All right then, here comes  
the obi, so round and round we go." The dark blue brocade looped around her several  
times.

"Right, hang onto this end and I'll pop in the padding for the bow, and trade you that obi  
end while you hold onto both ends of the undersash again. Bow's all tied up around the  
padding back here, lovely red cord around the obi, and now all we have to do is tuck the  
undersash into your front. That's better, innit? Here, might as well tie your hair up, too."

Embarrassed by all this attention, she snatched the ribbon, his fingers brushing the back  
of her neck as she sidestepped him to tie up her damp hair herself. The ribbon was a  
darker shade of rose than the kimono and too narrow to make the kind of big floppy bow  
she liked, but there was certainly enough of it to manage her usual ponytail. As a last  
touch, he dropped a long shawl around her shoulders, a pale blue-violet like the ghost of  
iris petals. "That'll help keep the chill off. Ready for that cuppa now?"

She followed him to the cushions at the table and surreptitiously wiggled around to find a  
way to kneel on hers that wouldn't put too much weight on her ankle. The motion made  
her uncomfortably aware of the kimono, if that was the right adverb. Its pale silk was  
maddeningly smooth against her bare skin, caressing every slight motion she made, and  
its liquid flow was accentuated by the stricture of the wide obi, all the way from her hips  
over her lower ribs.

"Well then," he said, handing her some tea. "You're tidied up, and I've had a chance to  
send more of my blokes after Jineh, so let's have a chat. He's a right bugger and no  
mistake, but why was he after you?"

"He wasn't," Kaoru said. "I went after him. Didn't expect him to have that many helpers  
around, though, or I would've brought my friends."

"Fierce little bird, aren't you? What do you want with the likes of him?"

She hesitated, but this man had saved her from Jineh, after all, and he hadn't seemed very  
surprised by the zombies. His accent and his little wire glasses kind of reminded her of  
Hiko, so maybe he was another guy from Okusofodo who'd come to help track down the  
hellblades. "He killed my dad and took his sword. It's a special one, made of silver, and I  
want to get it back."

"You don't say." He did seem slightly surprised now, but not completely confused, so he  
already knew about at least some of what she was talking about. "Seems we skipped the  
introductions in all the rush. What's your name, pet?"

"I'm Kaoru Kamiya-Summers."

"You don't say," he repeated thoughtfully. He raised his cup to his face and took a long  
sip, letting the steam fog up his glasses to the same pale silver as his hair. He set down  
the cup, fanned the steam away, and took her hand. "Think we already know each other  
by reputation, then. You're Battousai's little bluebird, not that it's kept him from being too  
hungry to take my dove away from me. And you know who I am, don't you?"

She tried to pull away, but while his grip wasn't cruel, it was firm enough to prevent  
casual escape. The same was true of his turquoise gaze. "You're Yukishiro Enishi.  
Tomoe's brother."

"Too right I am." With an ironic smile, he raised her hand to his lips for a kiss. "So, little  
bluebird, what should I do with you now?"

-

She really was a fierce little thing, Enishi thought, smaller than Tomoe or even Battousai.  
Easy enough to see where her nickname had come from, too, with those deep blue eyes  
blazing out at him from her face, still pink from her bath. After trying to tug free, she  
reached for the hot tea with her other hand. Lazily, he leaned across the table to whisk it  
out of range. "You weren't thinking of throwing that at me, now were you? Coz that just  
might make me cross, and you don't want that to happen."

"Let go of me." Her voice was perfectly calm. No panic or pleading from her, at least not  
yet. Oh, this really would be a pleasure.

"So you can go back to being one of Battousai's girls? Does he still play the knife game?  
I came up with that for Yumi, you know. Used it on your mum to make your dad give us  
the sakabatou." He traced the curve of her cheekbone. "You've your mother's lovely skin,  
you know. Didn't scar at all, did it?"

She bit him. In his moment of surprise, Kaoru scrambled up and around him, limping for  
the door. Shaking his head, he simply drew his sheathed watou out from under the table  
and tripped her with it, then smacked it back down over her body to keep her pinned. He  
stood back up with his foot on the hilt, weighting it down.

"My friends know where I went," she said, glaring at him over her shoulder. She still  
didn't look afraid, which disappointed him. "They're going to come look for me. That  
includes Kenshin."

"Blimey, you're right. Too bad they won't have anything leading them from Jineh's place  
to here. Likely enough even you don't even know where we are, unless you sat up to look  
through the car window after all."

Now that was a really luscious little growl in her throat. "They'll find some way to figure  
out where I am. Eventually."

"Oh, eventually, and then Bob's your uncle. But I just wonder, whatever shall we do until  
then?" She squirmed very prettily under the watou, too, enough to blunt his guard with  
enjoyment. Just as he was wondering how far she was willing to kick the kimono's hem  
up, she got her arms free and shoved the watou sideways into his ankle, knocking him to  
the floor as well.

This was even better than he'd hoped. He didn't even bother to get up, leaning back on his  
elbows as he watched her stagger to her feet. She was holding his watou, even though it  
was slightly taller than she was. He grinned up at her. "Now, what's a little thing like you  
going to do with that?"

She loosened the hilt. "Take a guess," she said.

"I guess you're going to have trouble unsheathing that."

Although the balance of the long blade was clearly difficult for her, she whipped it to the  
side and sent the sheath flying off. "Guess again."

"Oh, let me think. Ceiling's too low for you to get a really nice overhead swing. Walls are  
a bit too close too, unless you're good with your off side."

She wrapped the iris-petal shawl around her hand to protect it before gripping the blade  
about halfway down and bringing its point to his neck. "Well?"

"Third time's the charm, they say. I guess you want to kill me." She drove the blade down  
through his throat, and he sprawled back onto the floor.

-

Her clothes. She had to get out of this distractingly clingy kimono, find her own clothes  
and get out of here, wherever here was. But they'd taken a long elevator ride up and that  
should mean they were on top of a tall building. There weren't that many tall buildings in  
Edodale. She'd better still be in Edodale.

She left Enishi on the floor with the sword still skewered through him and started to limp  
around looking for his laundry machines before a horrible thought occurred to her. This  
was a nice place he had, with lots of gleaming woodwork, plush elaborate carpets, and  
weird art things scattered around. A really nice place. The sort of place where maids  
come in to do all the dusting and polishing, and take away the laundry to be dry-cleaned.  
But he hadn't known who she was when he brought her back here, and he'd seemed  
sincere enough about helping her, so what would he have done with her clothes?

Finally, she found them further down the hall, in another bathroom. It looked like he'd  
rinsed them out in the sink before hanging them up over the shower curtain. He wasn't  
nearly as good at it as Kenshin. Well, fine, she'd just bring them with her wrapped up in a  
towel and find something else to wear. Maybe she could just cover up the kimono with  
the long leather coat Enishi had left by the front door; that might keep her warm enough  
while she tried to get away. What about shoes? A wardrobe in the bedroom outside had  
more folded kimono visible through the half-open door. That must be where he kept  
Tomoe's things, so maybe some of her shoes were still there. She rummaged around,  
hoping to find something warmer than geta. And then she heard a throat being cleared  
behind her.

Enishi was leaning back against the closed bedroom door, barring the way back to the  
hallway. He looked exceptionally pleased with himself, not even with the decency to still  
have a hole in his neck. "Forgot about something, pet, didn't you? I've seen the trick you  
lot played on my little dove, stabbing her with her own knife to make her mortal again.  
But her knife was blooded. My watou isn't. Won't do you a bit of good to poke at me with  
it, nor not much else besides the sakabatou."

He caught the geta she threw at him, then simply tossed it aside to pull her away from her  
mad rush at the doorknob. His grip around her ribs kept sliding the kimono silk all over  
her body, for what felt like forever. Her hair shook loose from the ribbon, falling into her  
face. When she stopped struggling against him, it was almost as much to stop the  
unwanted arousal as to acknowledge that she couldn't get away. He turned her around by  
the shoulders, but she ducked her head, folding her arms tightly around herself. He saw  
anyway.

"So that's how it is, is it?" Enishi sounded almost amused, but not quite. He slid one hand  
from her shoulder, against the side of her throat, and across the slope of her breasts to a  
sharply outlined tip, nudging aside the elbow she'd tried to cover it with.

She made a half-hearted sound of indignation, swaying on her feet. "Don't do that."

"Why not? Got 'Property of Battousai' stamped on your girly bits?"

"No," she whispered. "No, he never- Kenshin's never done anything like this."

"Kenshin." He snorted. "Little bluebird, the only reason Battousai won't kill you is  
because of how much he wants you. You telling me there's no reason for that?" Despite  
his rough words, his fingers were gentle, pressing and sliding the silk against her in  
drowning waves of sensation. She was barely able to wrench free, huddling away from  
him in rejection, but he simply tsked. "Not good enough." He pulled her back, crushing  
her obi's bow against his body as he held her fast, first to keep her from struggling away  
again, and then to keep her from falling faint with desire as he resumed his attentions.

But she didn't want him, did she? She didn't know; she just wanted him to keep touching  
her, each silken stroke against her breasts as tender and soft as any caress Kenshin had  
ever given her hair, or her wrist, or at most, the hollow of her throat. She choked back  
another gasp, but his fingers pressed a little harder. "Come on and sing for me, little  
bird," he coaxed.

She couldn't help it; she leaned into his hand, moaning and sobbing for breath. The curve  
of his fingers, the sword calluses on his palm, even the rounded ridge of his knuckles  
running lightly against the silk- oh, she didn't care any more whose hands were making  
her feel this way, as long as they didn't stop.

When they did, she sagged back limply against him. His chest vibrated with a chuckle  
against her head, and she felt her feet trail against the floor as he took a few steps  
backward with her and sat down on the bed, perching her on his lap and waiting until she  
opened her eyes again.

He was studying her again, a bit more broodingly this time. "You look a bit dazed," he  
said. "More than Tomoe whenever Battousai did that to her. Either he's lost the knack or  
I'm better at it now, though she'd never let me try it on her, and Yumi usually didn't have  
the patience. Or maybe this is new to you after all. Did he just do you the way Yumi liked  
it, hard and fast?"

"I told you, he never-" She shook her head, unable to say anything else.

"Hm." Enishi's eyes narrowed. "You know, Battousai's taken Tomoe from me twice now.  
First he changed her before I could follow, and now he's changed her back. And she  
never would with me, you know. Never seemed fair to me that Battousai had his pick of  
them both. Not that I ever went wanting with Yumi, but a bloke likes a change once in a  
while. And he took back Yumi first anyway, so now I've got no choice at all, have I?"

"What kind of choice?" Maybe she shouldn't have asked that.

"I think I ought to take you away from him, little bluebird."

"What-" She had to moisten her lips. His eyes flicked down to watch her tongue's  
nervous flash. "What are you going to do?"

With an easy motion, he stood up, sliding her off his lap, and then sat down again,  
nudging her knees onto the bed with his hip and leaning to pin her shoulders down. "Oh,  
nothing you need worry about," he said. "Won't hurt you, except for the traditional  
twinge. I'll make it as nice as you like, even. But he'll never have your first time now. If  
he ever gets around to it, you'll be comparing him to me."

-

(And after this first half or so of chapter 1, the rating veers down to below the belt and  
stays there. Decided to put this introductory section back up on ff.n anyway. The rest of  
FotN (well, what there is of it so far) is now at AdultFanFiction dot net and MediaMiner dot org.)


	2. obi forever mine 5

The pillow retained the scent of Kaoru's hair, but it wasn't nearly as nice to hold as she   
was. She'd been so sweet to curl up next to, as warm and tender as a cake fresh from the   
oven. A lovely moist cake, waiting to be turned out and drenched with milky glaze....   
  
Enishi yawned, stretched, and faded into a pleasant doze until he heard her footsteps on   
the stairs again. He rolled around to blink in disappointment at her outfit. "Didn't you like   
what I brought you?"  
  
"They looked too complicated to put on by myself." Self-consciously, she smoothed her   
sweater, then put her cup on the tea tray. She folded her legs onto the floor in that   
unladylike way that inspired futile yearnings for a very short skirt in place of those denim   
trouser things. "What kind of people iron jeans, anyway?" she asked, wincing.  
  
"If they're chafing you, you could take them off." Funny, she didn't seem to warm to this   
advice, any more than she'd brought him his own drink of whatever it was. He sniffed at   
the steam, then sat up for a peek at it. "What've you got there, anyway? Miso soup?"  
  
"Um, kind of."  
  
He wrinkled his nose at the taste, perplexed, then realized it'd been his fault for putting so   
many things out of her way in the kitchen. "Sorry you couldn't reach up to the knives and   
katsuobushi plane, sweet. At least if I'd put the kombu on a lower shelf, you could've   
made some kind of dashi instead of just mixing miso paste with hot water."  
  
"That's okay," she said as she took the stuff back, not blaming him at all for reducing her   
to this sort of makeshift. He was further chagrined when she gave him a longer look.   
"Your face healed over since I went downstairs, but your jacket's really messed up. I   
know the post-holiday sales can get pretty rough, but isn't that a lot of trauma from just   
shopping?"  
  
He checked the damage, poking through the muddy shreds to make sure he'd healed there   
too. "Oh, that. Just a few sword cuts, that's all."  
  
"Sword cuts?" That miso water was right nasty, but it wasn't the only reason she'd   
choked, was it? Before she could spill any more of her cup, he set it aside. Despite the hot   
water, her fingers were cold and trembling. She looked... afraid? For him?   
  
He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You are a sweet little bird, aren't you? No need to   
worry about me, love. Forgot how bloody fast the bugger can be, that's all. Got to pay   
him back for what he did to you, don't I?"  
  
"Who?" she asked, just like the adorable owlet she was imitating again, wide-eyed and   
gap-beaked as if begging for a worm. He could think of better things to feed her than that.   
Unfortunately, she resisted his first gentle tug.   
  
"Well," he began, easing her into the news. "He's pinned down with nowhere to go, right?   
But I can't get a proper slice at him, not the way the rat in the hat scuttles about. So the   
best I could do last night was shove him into one of his own pit traps, like the one I found   
you in. Made sure he didn't miss any of the pointy sticks like you did, but this one's too   
deep for me to reach in and finish him off. If he's still there when I go back tonight, I'll   
trot out the sakabatou and put him away. So I haven't killed him for you yet, love, but   
once I work up to it, it'll be good practice for the real fight."  
  
Once she'd absorbed this, her shoulders sagged into a long sigh, tumbling her hair   
forward like a veil of tears. "So you were fighting Jineh. Not--"  
  
"Not Battousai, no." He knew she'd be disappointed, but her despair made his heart hurt   
for what she must've suffered. "But if I can kill Jineh first, it'll get my watou woke up   
with its appetite back, and then I'll be my old self again. I'll need that edge to take on the   
scaly little brat, wherever he's gone to. But even if I can't find him, I can change you then.   
I'll miss the lovely blue that your eyes are now, but they'll be just as pretty when they've   
gone hellfire-gold, the way mine will be too."  
  
She swallowed hard, on the verge of tears. Damn it all, he was going to comfort her   
whether she wanted it or not. With a swift, ruthless pull, he hauled her off-balance and   
onto the futon, pinning her down before he remembered why he shouldn't. Just in time,   
he stopped himself from kissing her poor raw mouth again, and leaned back for another   
check of his pockets. "I forgot you didn't like Battousai doing that," he muttered, abashed   
at her frozen tableau of panic. "Don't want to remind you of him any more than I have to.   
Hold still, now."  
  
The little jar of ointment had warmed up while tucked away in his jacket, soft enough for   
him to scoop out a healthy blob. He dabbed some over the flecks of blood on her lower   
lip. She grimaced. "What is that? It's tingly."  
  
"Medicated lip balm, it says. Hush so I can rub it in." He would've preferred to do that   
with his own mouth, but she didn't look nearly ready for that yet. His fingers would have   
to do for now. "There now, that better?"  
  
She nodded, but that lost, distant haze still clung to her. This peeled away with her   
sweater when he tugged the latter upward. A muffled protest emerged from the fleecy   
cloth flailing over her face. "Hey!"   
  
"Hush, I said. Cripes, that looks nasty, all chapped and flaky-like," he said, and plopped   
the rest of the balm onto her bare breasts.   
  
Her resistance shivered away into more owl sounds. "Ooooh," the sweater whispered.   
Tingly stuff, was it? Maybe it was time for him to find out. After all, his mouth was   
getting a bit dry too.  
  
-----  
  
(This is a teaser/placeholder for FotN5, which does not meet ff.n usage guidelines. The   
full chapter can be read at AdultFanFiction.net , MediaMiner.org , or FanDomination.net ;  
I would be very happy if readers would leave reviews somewhere, including here. ^_^ ) 


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